building my first gaming computer need some help

well a freind of mine wants me to build him a gaming computer. Hes a big WOW guy and hes into shooters like halo and gears of war. COD4 etc etc. Hes going to be doing a lot of online gaming and gaming in general. He also wants to wire up his computer to his HDTV in his room and use it as a DVR/Media center. Basically he wants an all inclusive home computer that can do what ever the heck he wants.

So Im trying to get him the most bang for the buck and not go over board. I think Im already heading over board.

you would be VERY foolish to invest money in an AMD machine, right now. Intel is definitely the best route to go for a decent PC. If you think stictly for gaming, a 3.0GHz Core2Duo is an amazing chip. Otherwise, I think a Core2Quad will multi-task like a god.

you would be VERY foolish to invest money in an AMD machine, right now. Intel is definitely the best route to go for a decent PC. If you think stictly for gaming, a 3.0GHz Core2Duo is an amazing chip. Otherwise, I think a Core2Quad will multi-task like a god.

what is your budget?

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I was hoping youd jump in <3

Budget wise he was about to go buy an alien ware before I dissuaded him from doing so. He was going to spend 2500 on this alien ware set up but after talking to him a bit he is aiming for around 2000. The main things hes looking for is blue ray player, wireless card, and big hard drive for recording movies.

-Q6600 OC with Zalman 9700
-If you go dual core the E8500 is an amazing chip, OC to 4.0 with not much effort.
-8Gigs of ram for $200ish
-Wait about 2 weeks for new video cards to be released, the 4870 is supposed to be a killer on the ATi side
-Pick up a P35 or P45 Chipset Mobo, they're said to have the best compatibility with Nehalem, if you want to wait for that should be late this year? (Don't quote me on that)
-If you have to buy now a 8800gts 512Mb has the best stability but the drivers for the 9800GX2 are rapidly imporving.
-Look into a Western Digital Velciraptor for OS and apps, and a TB drive or two for mass storage.
-Don't forget the 64Bit Os

-Q6600 OC with Zalman 9700
-If you go dual core the E8500 is an amazing chip, OC to 4.0 with not much effort.
-8Gigs of ram for $200ish
-Wait about 2 weeks for new video cards to be released, the 4870 is supposed to be a killer on the ATi side
-Pick up a P35 or P45 Chipset Mobo, they're said to have the best compatibility with Nehalem, if you want to wait for that should be late this year? (Don't quote me on that)
-If you have to buy now a 8800gts 512Mb has the best stability but the drivers for the 9800GX2 are rapidly imporving.
-Look into a Western Digital Velciraptor for OS and apps, and a TB drive or two for mass storage.
-Don't forget the 64Bit Os

nope. Nehalem = new socket, new chipset
according to Intel, first Nehalem chipset to be released is X58

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Dammit I say Nehalem, I intended to say the 45nm chips. Reading to much into the future. The 45nm could be a potential upgrade. Thanks for the correction, I would hate to be an ass who screws up a great build.

Dammit I say Nehalem, I intended to say the 45nm chips. Reading to much into the future. The 45nm could be a potential upgrade. Thanks for the correction, I would hate to be an ass who screws up a great build.

Make sure to get a RAID controller for the media storage, wouldn't want to lose it all. Get 3 1TB drives and run a RAID 5 with them.

I know that is a lot of storage but it'll fill up fast once he starts recording stuff. I don't spend much time getting video for mine and my 1.28TB of usable RAID storage is already 2/3 full in a matter of 6 months.